Dethklok: Dethalbum II

The entity of Dethklok, being both a cartoon and an actual band, has two different marketing angles, sometimes at odds with each other. As the show first started, the songs caught on (expectedly) and the resulting album was a hit. But then there was a tour and an album that coincided with a choppy second season. Something went wrong six episodes and the show stopped airing for about six months.

It was probably a case of exhaustion on the part of the creators, having simply created something too large for themselves to handle. But now, on the eve of the third season, we get Dethalbum II. What’s different here is that most of these songs I’ve forgotten about. The songs are over a year old already, whereas Dethalbum was relatively fresh when it was released.

In hindsight, much as series co-creator and musical wunderkind Brendon Small does attempt to inject diversity into his animated death metal heroes’ oeuvre, this second set of Dethklok songs seems to pale in comparison. It could be the timing, the novelty, or sophomore slump syndrome.

It’s still a solid set of death metal songs, performed extremely well and the songwriting is quite good. But the more disturbing undercurrent is the fact that Dethklok seems more childish than fun these days.